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Book Review: Creating a World Without Poverty

Yesterday I finished Creating a World Without Poverty, a book by Muhammad Yunus that covers a lot of ground but mainly focuses on social business. For those of you who are not familiar with the term, a social business lies somewhere between a for-profit business and a charity. For the most part, a social business operates like a for-profit business except it does not pay dividends - it only returns the original investment to it's investors, any profits are used to expand the business. Like a charity the goal of a social business is to meet a particular social need, but unlike a charity it seeks to be self-sustaining so that it does not have to rely on donors for cash.

While Dr. Yunus is clearly not a writer by trade, and occasionally gets a little pie-in-the-sky (no harm in that though), this is a very interesting read for those who want to learn more about this new paradigm for solving social problems. I know I have been writing a lot about microcredit, which is covered somewhat in this book, Grameen Bank is more the topic of Banker to the Poor, his earlier book. This book also covers a number of other Grameen business, of which Grameen Telecom was of particular interest to me. In my last class at school (Marketing Management), one of our projects was to come up with marketing idea for Nokia. While doing research, I learned a lot about how mobile phones can help transform developing economies by being used in novel ways. For example, in some countries mobile phones are used similarly to Western Unions to transfer money through prepaid phone cards. In many areas, mobile phone technology is being used to leapfrog landlines for telephone service and Internet connectivity. Grameen Telecom helped women from villagers (a.k.a. telephone ladies) to start their own microbusinesses by purchasing phones and selling use of their phone to people in and around their villages.

Much of the book is devoted to challenging a number of the assumptions of the current economic establishment, for example that poor people are not credit-worthy (Grameen Bank has a repayment rate of over 98% - which I'm guessing is much better than the repayment rates for most loans in the United States) or that the main engine for growth in developing countries has to be the creation of employment. Anyway it's a great and inspirational read (there's a reason he and Grameen Bank won the Nobel Peace Prize), and I would definitely recommend it. Unless you're an asshat.


Rating: * * * *

Match Update

Okay I know you have all been dying to know my most recent Match-ventures. For a while I didn't really check in much, and there wasn't much activity for a couple months. Anyway I was deciding whether to let my membership lapse about a month ago and all of a sudden was hit with a Match-valanche* of winks and e-mails. Now that I think about it, I wonder if Match bumps you up in people's search results when your subscription is coming up... (sounds a bit paranoid, but Match has already been sued for allegedly paying people to go on dates with people in order to keep people from pulling subscriptions).

The last month or so has been kind of annoying. One woman apparently needed me to send her an Evite to official formalize a date more than 24 hours in advance or she would make other plans. I went on two dates with another woman who I kind of had an emotional connection with, but she was a little boring and we didn't have much in common. I had another date with a 24 year old, which served to remind me why I don't date a lot of 24 year olds. She was nice enough, but it was like dating... a 24 year old. There was a Buddhist vegan who I traded a couple e-mails with, but after telling me my e-mail was one of the best she had received she kind of dithered around and stopped replying. And then there is the most annoying of Match creatures, the elusive I-winked-at-you-but-and-then-told-you-your-reply-was-great-but-then-I-didn't-reply-to-the-next-one-o-saurus.

My newest muse is training for triathlons and just got accepted into the Physical Therapy grad program at the U. After my run today, the latter may come in handy. Anyway it appears she is online at the moment, either crafting a witty e-mail or possibly blocking me from contacting her. Whatever it is, I will keep you updated.

*Okay, enough of the Match-related portmanteau

Book Review: The Sun Over Breda

It's a good night for a little blogging action. I had my inaugural Spring run today which went pretty well, although right now my legs feel like what I imagine they would if they were repeatedly beating by a large stick.

I finished The Sun Over Breda last week, another Perez-Reverte book. It's the third in the Captain Alatriste series, although there are six in Spanish. Captain Alatriste is a soldier in the 17th century twilight of the Spanish Empire (yes, Mindy, Spain was once a mighty empire). Like all of the books, it is narrated by Íñigo Balboa y Aguirre, the Captain's faithful squire (or mochilero if you want to get all technical on that ass). Although the first two books were based in Madrid, this time the action takes place in the Netherlands during the Eighty Years War, specifically the siege of Breda. For those not inclined to study the Siglo de Oro, Spain was nominally in control of the Netherlands but it was in the midst of a rebellion that would go on until the Peace of Westphalia in 1648.

Anyway, the Captain Alatriste series is kind of a pulp historical fiction, sort of an homage to Dumas, kind of a Spanish The Three Musketeers. Unlike his other novels, these are more like a quick beach read although that doesn't diminish them (I like this much better than The Painter of Battles). Anyway the book is mainly a series of raids, counterattacks, trench warfare, and basically a review of how crappy life was in the 17th century. It also covers the decline of the Spanish Empire, which interestingly is a startling corollary to the decline of our own country (for example, some of the causes of the collapse of Spanish power was its concentration on fighting pointless wars, maintaining an empire, and concentrating on finances rather than actually producing goods. Plus kicking people they didn't like out of their country. Religious extremism. Blowing up Muslims. Sorry, I'll get back to the book).

In short, I would recommend this book to anyone who is into historical fiction about derring-do and gruff Spanish captains with plumed hats. Or you could just watch the movie (which is in Spanish and costs about $50, but it does star Viggo Mortenson).

Another Kiva Update

Today I hit another Kiva milestone - my first loan repayment came in. Oleg paid off $100 of his $600 loan, of which $16.67 was returned to me. To celebrate this occasion, I am going to make my fourth loan tonight. It's always hard to decide whom to loan to - everyone seems like a pretty good candidate. I've been reading Creating a World Without Poverty and it, along with other information I've found, talks about how lending to women usually leads to a much bigger return on the investment (apparently men in less developed countries tend to spend the family's money on useless crap too). So I think I will focus my effort on women, and take a stab at another country. Let me put that into the Random Microloan Recipient Generator and press this button and see what it spits out...

(beep beep boop...)

...alright, we've come up with the Ketifallawo group in Kalerwe, Uganda. And no, I have no idea what Ketifallawo means (nothing on Google). This is another group loan and in case you were wondering, these kinds of loans are guaranteed by all of the members, i.e. if one member is late defaults the others are responsible for those payments. The group is made up of Anita, Annet, Grace, Sarah, and Joweria. The group members are looking to expand their businesses, by buying an extra sewing machine, more inventory, and iron sheets for a new poultry house among other things.

Th-th-th-that's All Folks!

Wednesday was my final class for grad school, ever. I have to admit that Marketing Management kind of ended on a sour note, seeing that I was expecting an A going into class and in the last ten minutes learned that instead I am getting a B+. That may not sound like much until you realize that I have a huge ego and have only gotten A's and some A-'s until now. Oh well. I liked the classes anyway, not so much the assignments and (apparently) never ended up seeing eye-to-eye with the professor on things. On the plus side, the take-home final was optional if you liked your grade and seeing that I had what I guessed was an equal chance of going up or down I decided to be lazy and do nothing. Anyway I won't gripe too much lest I get too many smart-alec comments from Mindy.

Graduation is late May, and there is some kind of graduate dinner before then but I think it's the weekend I am traveling to Rochester, NY to visit my grandad (seriously, why is everybody planning something that weekend, huh?). In more positive news, I did learn that I have "earned top academic honors as a Carlson Scholar based on [my] achievements" at grad school. What exactly does one get for such an honor you ask? Piles of cash? Travel? A great job? A gold- and jewel-encrusted plaque heralding my achievements? No, even better! I will be recognized at graduation with a gold honor cord! Because that's what all new graduates need - cords.

Postin' in the Boy's Room

Hello there, I am taking today off for no good reason other than I want to, because that's what we do here in America (take that terrorists!). The weather here in Minneapolis is horrible, kind of a wet, windy, rain-snow-slush fest that is a pretty fitting end to the crappy winter we just had. However, my condo is nice and toasty so it's a good day to snuggle up to my keyboard and type up a couple posts, among other things.

This morning I finished another drawing, and this time I stepped up the difficulty another notch. Instead of just drawing Otis, this time I decided to let Mindy join in the fun. I'm not sure what Otis is doing here, perhaps his Baby Jesus impression, but he sure looks funny (Maybe E.T.? Otis-in-a-blanket?). You've probably figured it out but the Nordic goddess looking chick is Mindy.

Now if you've ever tried to draw people, particularly people you know, it can be very frustrating. It's not that people are that hard to draw it's that even small mistakes are very noticable. I'm sure you've heard that beauty is largely defined by symmetry (damn you Denzel Washington!) and I think we are all acutely attuned to notice this. Not only that, but I think it's fair to say that any artist that tries to draw one of his friends is basically one set of buck teeth away from being alone.

Compassionate Action for Animals Dinner

Well, last night was the Compassionate Action for Animals dinner which was held at the Coffman Memorial Union. It seemed a bit strange that I've been going to the U for three and a half years and have never been there before. But seriously, do people actually buy books from the bookstore? It's called Amazon people. Sorry, I'm getting off topic here.

Anyway CAA is either the organization which Mindy volunteers at to help animals live better lives and promote vegetarianism and veganism, or is a bunch of dirty hippies who formed a club for people who want to destroy America. You decide. Anyway, I'm sure if you know Mindy or read her blog she went veg last summer and in that short period of time has worked herself all the way to Volunteer of the Month at CAA. What. A. Nerd. Anyway this week she was running around trying to get the banquet and silent auction together for last night, and seems to have pulled things off quite well.

The silent auction was full of interesting stuff that people had donated. I told Mindy I would donate a date with me but I guess she was too busy to get back to me on that one. There was a lot of artwork though, plus some yoga classes, pottery, some concert tickets and other stuff. I bid on a couple things and got a big old basket full of vegan goodies (note to self: vegan does not always mean low calorie... burp...) and some fancy schmancy doggie shampoo kit for Otis. Mindy bid on around ten things and was close to being on the hook for almost $300 but ended up being outbid on about half of them. After that was the banquet, where we ate way too much food that was donated from various local businesses. After that there were a couple speeches, and then we collected the stuff we won at the silent auction. The end.

The Same, Just Different

Well I went out on a limb again and drew another one of Mindy's animals, Kisa (whom hopefully you can tell is a cat). I have to say that drawing Kisa is much harder than Otis, for a number of reasons:

1) While Otis has three basic colors (black, white, and a little pink), Kisa's fur alone has many shades of tans, browns, and grays, plus pink around the ears and several greens and some blue in her eyes. Armed only with my Crayola 64-pack it wasn't quite possible for me to replicate the exact colors but hopefully I came pretty close.

2) The texture of Kisa's fur lends itself to a medium like painting, where it is fairly easy to layer a light on top of dark; for example, whiskers or the areas of fur where it looks kinda frosted.

3) Unlike Otis' sleek fur, Kisa has almost no distinct lines except her eyes - which means pretty much everything has to be drawn as a texture.

4) I have access to fewer pictures of Kisa. Of course, maybe she could help out by making funnier facial expressions or dressing up in outfits more often.

Catmoflage

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You, Sir, Are a Moron

In less charitable news, I am starting a new feature I think I'm going to call You, Sir, Are a Moron unless I can come up with something better. I read a lot of online news and blogs and quite often I get annoyed with some of stupid things people say (not you Mindy!), so I am getting to be letting a little steam off by dumping on them.

Tonight's installment comes courtesy of CNN, that bastion of news integrity that it is, in an article on people how those people in the subprime industry are holding up. In an online article called Careers Vanish After Subprime 'Free Fall', which focuses on a couple that both worked for suprime lenders and recently lost their six-figure jobs. Ace reporter Chris Isidore captures in vivid detail the dramatic cutbacks this Orange County couple have had to make: trading in his Corvette for a (gasp!) Suburban, getting rid of their gardener. The part that really got my goat was when the husband said "It's very expensive to live in Orange County, and you pay a lot for your home and you can't get what it's worth now."*

Attention, Captain Asshat: here's a newsflash - your home is worth what you can get for it. That's the definition of what it's worth. You would think that someone in the mortgage business would know that but then again these two geniuses somehow didn't anticipate that there might be some employment issues in the subprime lending industry considering the fact that they both worked in it and that many experts have warned about this collapse for years.

You, Sir, Are a Moron.

*Italics mine

Kiva Update

Well, my little project on Kiva is marching forward in good order. I've made two loans so far and just made another. After making sure that my previous loan to Oleg went through smoothly, I loaned another $100 to Rahim in Afghanistan who sells shoes and needed to buy some fresh stock, and today I made a $100 group loan to Sarwer in Pakistan to help her buy another floor grinding machine to rent out. The rest of the group is looking to borrow money for their window glass sales and rickshaw businesses (I assume the latter is the kind you drive, not pull).

Assuming all goes according to plan, I should start seeing my first loan repayment come in by the end of next week or so. In other microcredit related news, I am also reading Creating a World Without Poverty, a book by the aforementioned Muhammad Yunus about social business. When I am done reading that I will write another book review that you won't bother to read.